Wednesday, January 21, 2009

So, my corporate stalkers have returned with a vengeance, targeting my last two posts with a vengeance. So, fuck 'em. If they'll have my writing taken down without even an attempt to contact me, then they don't deserve my respect, nor my compliance. Bringer of Song will live on, but not here. Keep your eyes out... you'll find us eventually. If not, you know the email; contact me and I'll be happy to personally invite you.

If the ones who take issue with my posts would supply me, personally a list of artists they'd prefer I not post, thankyouverymuch, I will be happy to do so. Until then, though, they can keep their overhyped and overproduced crap and I'll do my best to make sure their artists are forgotten by the wallets of everyone I've ever met, including my own.

(I mean, this all started because of The Killers. Seriously. If it were a band whose output resembled music, perhaps I'd be less bitter.)

So, I'll still be out there. Listening, reviewing, and waiting for the day when the shackles of corporate major label bullshit open with a click and let music own the day, finally. Until then, you know where to look.

Inspired by recently posted song Travis' "Love Will Come Through", which played over the climax of the series finale of Alden-favourite TV show Wonderfalls, this roulette will focus on music that is inexorably linked to their respective TV moments. As you well know, I'm a complete TV junkie, and I love moments where the song meets the visual and combine to create an even fuller sense of emotion and story, leaving both inexorably linked in the viewer's mind. One career option I've long considered is music supervisor for a TV show, combining my two great loves. If I could construct a seminal TV moment like many of the below, I'd be a proud man.

Five such moments are below, with another post to come.

[Note that the below spoils, to varying degrees, Weeds season 2, Supernatural season 2 and Grey's Anatomy seasons 2 and 3.]

"What the fuck was I thinking?" sings Youngs on this track, set to Mary-Louise Parker's drug-dealing Nancy Botwin reeling from discovering her new beau is a DEA agent. This choice of song pulls out so many of the emotions of the scene - the fact that this was her first tryst since her husband's death and the guilt that comes with compromising his memory and her family's stability and safety because of her own loneliness. "Love grows in me like a tumor", the song warns, reminding us that we all think "maybe I'll be the lucky one that doesn't get burned". Unfortunately for Nancy, she's got plenty of trouble ahead of her.

When creating a montage for an 'intimate moment', a music supervisor has to choose very carefully, or else the mood of the entire scene is ruined. Luckily, Supernatural hired Alexandra Patsavas (look below for more amazing work she's done for Grey's Anatomy). This tune is sensual, haunted and fits the series rock aesthetic, while simultaneously layering the scene with a sense of unease and imbalance... Hinting at the tragic end of the story, wherein one is forced to kill the other.

The Grey's moment that gets the most press, though my only third-favourite music moment from that show, is a doozy. Using Snow Patrol's soaring anthem as a funereal tone for the weeping Izzie, as the show balances its ethical and moral questions about the sacrifices she's made for love, was remembered by fans for a long time after. The moment is scored perfectly: "If I lay here, would you lay with me and just forget the world?", as Izzie lays on the hospital bed and tries to forget the world, tries to forget that the future she'd built for herself in her head has come crashing down, and can't. Beautiful moment, and a cap to the show's best season.

The show had an even more intense musical moment earlier that season, however, in the second half of the riveting bomb-episode. The episode that launched Anatomy to the hit it became, part of it must have been attributed to this sequence, in which the lead character must remove her hand from a body cavity with live ammunition in it. The song's climactic moment, urging us to "breathe, just breathe" as the music swells, certainly added a great rhythm and emotion to an already pretty powerful scene. But Anatomy's stand-out musical moment:

Though following up from a season full of questionable plot elements, the series moved towards a crescendo in its finale, tying together all of the character's various arcs and destroying their hopes, one-by-one. The song, emulating the rhythm of deep breaths with its violin while keeping a quick pace via piano, underscored the climactic moment wherein a character, who had boxed away more and more of herself in order to become a 'bride' and appease the man she loved, found herself alone and begging her best friend to cut her out of her restrictive wedding dress. As the song rises and rises in emotion, she breaks down and exclaims the mystifying statement that she's finally free. Combining the visuals of the dress and her need to breathe with the song, which moves faster and faster until the viewer feels as if they, too, need more air. Perfect synthesis of song and visual, combining to create a greater sense of the story.

I'll post part two soon, with moments from Battlestar Galactica and How I Met Your Mother, among others. If I remember/uncover more, part three will follow soon enough, no doubt. Now, I'm sure everyone has one or two of these moments in their mental vault. What are the greatest TV/music moments in recent history for you? And don't forget, search for more at The Hype Machine; purchase albums or mp3's at Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amie St., cdbaby, or Insound.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's two weeks into 2009, and you guys haven't heard from me since the New Year hit. Sadly, between school, work and technical difficulties, much of what I wanted to do that was tBoS-related has come up against walls so far. I still carry the flame in my heart, however, and I want to tell you guys my plans for the immediate future.

1) Finish the Top 100 Tracks of 2008 By January 31st: In 2007, by far my most popular feature was my Top 100 of 2008 list. I've got it written up... in another city, on a format this computer can't read. But, damn it, I'm going to have them all posted with my fancy download links and write-ups if it kills me. Or at least faster than last year, where it bled into March.

2) Review at least 2 albums per month: Besides being a good exercise in 'music journalism', rather than 'whatever the hell I feel like writing', it's also the think that tends to draw people's interest. One of my best-known posts still seems to be my in-depth Flavors of Entanglement review, after all, even though the general public seems to have declared Alanis Morissette on the verge of being a has-been. I'm not necessarily going to keep to just-released albums, as I find my reviews half-baked without some steeping time, but they'll happen. I've been listening a lot to Franz Ferdinand's Tonight and Morissey's Years of Refusal, plus some older stuff I still haven't shared with you guys, so hopefully I'll get a start on that soon.

3) Set up 'thebringerofsong.com': Yes, my good friends, I already own thebringerofsong.com. courtesy of a great Xmas gift. Once I get the technical aspect down, tBoS will be a whole new ball game. Except, really, the same old ball game. Just better.

4) Write at least one showcase/discovery a month: These are almost always my favourite posts, and yet I haven't written many in the past months. Next in the pipeline is most likely Travis, as they've had a storied career that doesn't get half the notice it should.

5) Hone my skills: I'm still developing in this arena, as though I don't know music I like to think I've got a decent knowledge of human feeling. This year, I'd like to learn a little bit more about music and how to 'read' it. I also want to deepen and widen my music knowledge by digging into music before my birth, and since it; I know that delving into the 90's has given me a couple of great listens like Radiohead.

So, that's the plan for the immediate future. And, to keep you guys interested, here's my current favourite from Franz Ferdinand:

Thursday, January 1, 2009

"All I know is, there's something new this year. All I know's there's something new real near..."

So, 2008 has now ended and 2009 has begun! I have to say, I'm immensely excited to see what the new year brings. Most of tBoS' life so far was in 2008, and I know that just having it pushed me deeper and deeper into music than I'd been before. I wanna thank everyone - long-time (ha!) readers, one-hit wonders, the works, because it's for you guys (and for myself) that I keep this thing up. This has been great, and there's some pretty huge things happening on the blog in the near future, including my second annual Top 100 Songs list. I've been working like mad on it, and I plan on having the first couple posts out by the end of the first week of January. Plus, an even bigger announcement to come...

Disclaimer

NOTE: All music provided is purely for preview purposes, and we urge you to download responsibly and buy albums from the artists you like. This project is purely our way of helping spread the word about our favourite artists and, in our small way, help them out the best we can. Hurting their business is the exact opposite of our intentions here.

If an artist has concerns about anything being made available on this blog, feel free to contact us at thebringerofsong@hotmail.com and we'll be happy to take it down.

Contributors

About Us

This blog showcases the musical tastes of...

Alden (The Alden): A 17-year-old Canadian male who initiated the blog, Alden loves music. A lot. Many of his favourite singers and bands use instruments like the piano and violin over the common guitar-based band template, and values vocals and lyrics over instrumentation. Practically worships Andrew Bird.

Marelly (Wendy77): Alden's cousin, who keeps him in line and polices his tastes to make sure he doesn't embarrass himself in the indie hipster scene. Will have her own blurb soon, she promises.

PAST BLOGGERS

Jordan (CitizenofBalance): Joined Alden at tBoS in early January 2008, Jordan's interests cover a very different spectrum to his blogging partner. Prefers to listen to such genres as heavy and progressive metal, doom, psychedelic and underground Hip-Hop. Was last seen on a quest into the heart of psytrance. Exited February 2008.